Geezer Butler says he and Ozzy Osbourne have agreed to one more Black Sabbath gig "to finish the whole thing off"

30 May 2024, 11:10

The Black Sabbath co-founder has revealed he's been in talks with the Prince Of Darkness about getting the original line-up together again.

Geezer Butler has discussed the chances of Black Sabbath reuniting for one more show.

The legendary bassist - who formed the band together with frontman Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward - has revealed he's spoken to the Prince of Darkness about getting the original line-up back together.

The band announced their reunion tour on 2011, but their original drummer pulled out at the last minute due to issues over an "unreasonable" contract, leaving Ozzy's guitarist Tommy Clufetos to step in.

As reported by Blabbermouth, speaking to Eddie Trunk on SirisuXM, he said: "Of course there’s an interest [on my part to do it], but there’s a big ‘but’ — you’d have to speak to Bill about it. Everybody wants to do it [but I don’t know if he is] capable [of pulling it off].”

The bassist added: "Ozzy was hoping to finish it all off next year back in Aston, at the Aston Villa [football stadium in Birmingham]. I’m definitely up for it, to finish the whole thing off. Me and Ozzy have agreed, but I’m not sure about anybody else."

Quizzed if Ward would be willing to join the band on stage for just a few songs, he replied: "I don’t think so. Maybe, I don’t know. I mean, the way technical things happen these days, maybe a couple of songs, but who knows?

"There wouldn’t be any traveling involved. We wouldn’t be actually all in the studio at the same time together. So it could be done that way — maybe."

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The update comes after Ozzy Osbourne said he would "jump at the chance" to play a final Black Sabbath show with the original drummer, telling pal Billy Morrison on The Madhouse Chronicles he feels their story is "unfinished".

When asked about playing the band's final show in 2017 and if he felt glad it was done," Ozzy replied: "Yeah, but I was sad that Bill wasn’t there. I mean Tommy Clufetos, my drummer, did a great job, but he ain’t Bill Ward."

Asked if he was happy with the "arc" of Black Sabbath, the Prince Of Darkness said: "No. Because it wasn’t Black Sabbath that finished it. It’s unfinished. If they wanted to do one more gig with Bill, I would jump at the chance."

The Patient Number 9 rocker added: "Do you know what would be cool? If we went to a club or somewhere unannounced and we just got up and did it. We started up in a club."

The Paranoid singer is set hit another career milestone this year. Osbourne will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2024 as a solo artist, which will make him a two-time inductee after he was previously honoured with Black Sabbath back in 2006.

Reacting to the news he said: "Thank You @RockHall Voters & Fans for this induction. My solo career, has been a much larger part of my overall music career as a whole, so this feels more special. Not bad for a guy who was fired from his last band."

The Iron Man rocker now joins a select group of artists to have made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice or more, including Eric Clapton, Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ronnie Wood, Lou Reed and Curtis Mayfield.

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